December 4, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
For years, DeKalb County High School students have had opportunities to earn both a diploma and college degree through dual enrollment at Motlow State Community College, but now they can also take advantage of a similar program with financial aid options under a partnership between DCHS and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology in McMinnville.
In only its second year, the TCAT dual enrollment offering at DCHS has become popular and is growing.
“This is the second year they (state) have allowed the TCAT dual enrollment for 9-12 graders,” said Brad Leach, DCHS Career and Technical Education Director. “We had 206 students this fall that registered which is more than the first group who applied for dual enrollment last year”.
Dual enrollment opportunities at TCAT represent DCHS’s effort to provide relatable, career-readiness, and trade-related skills for students while they are in high school.
“This allows students more choice and opportunity as they progress beyond high school, whether they continue in two-year, four-year, or right-to-work pathways and all of this is aligned to our intent to increase dual enrollment, dual credit, and industry certifications for students while in high school,” said Leach.
“The programs in which we do the dual enrollment are limited to include maintenance and light repair, machining technology, residential and commercial construction, cosmetology, as well as anatomy and physiology in the health science area,” Leach explained.
“The state only allows us four classes in order to be a CTE (Career Technical Education) completer or concentrator for this dual enrollment and that is why we are limited but some of our classes are double blocked which gives the kids some extra shop time and extra clock hours that they can accumulate toward further TCAT advancement after they graduate,” Leach continued. “Our Counseling department has worked with our schedules and done a great job in getting that planned out to where students can have that extra time in the shop, especially for our advanced level III & IV classes. They have additional time in there that they can use for instruction”.
Unlike other dual enrollment academic programs, the TCAT courses are taught at DCHS in the classroom rather than online. TCAT and financial aid applications are filed online.
“The teachers here at the high school are TCAT instructors. They teach the classes. The classes are taught here at our high school in our shops. Our teachers meet with TCAT instructors and they align the curriculum that we have with the TCAT curriculum and that’s the professional development our teachers have. The instruction is no different than the regular class we have and everybody (students) enrolled in these courses is dual enrolled with TCAT. The nice thing about that is if a student decides to go to TCAT after high school, they can take their clock hours with them, which will give them a leg up as far as enrollment with TCAT because they will already be considered a student at TCAT. They look at that when a student enrolls with them after graduation,” said Leach.
“Our cosmetology teacher is actually a certified instructor from TCAT,” added DCHS School Counselor Shelly Painter. “They pay for her to come and teach our classes so students are getting the exact same training as if they were sitting at TCAT taking the classes”.
“Another nice thing about this is that 9th graders can start this. It’s a 9th-12th grade dual enrollment opportunity. A student entering the 9th grade can start their dual enrollment and continue on and gain those hours up until the 12th grade before they graduate,” Leach explained”.
“When we enroll these kids, that’s when the TCAT counselors will come down and join our guidance counselors and teachers to help students fill out the applications online. We will guide them through the application process for both the TCAT and the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) applications. After they fill them out, that qualifies them to be put in the TCAT system as a dual enrollment student. They will then be able to collect clock hours that can be transferred to TCAT after they graduate high school,” said Leach.
For those who wish to do both, students have the option of dual enrolling at Motlow and TCAT.
“Our students can enroll at the TCAT and at Motlow at the same time because it’s two separate amounts of money,” Painter explained. “The money is all funneling from the lottery here in Tennessee. Through TSAC we have different accounts that we can apply for and the dual enrollment can be for both schools. It doesn’t take away if you are dual enrolling at the TCAT it doesn’t take anything away from what you can still get at Motlow,” said Painter.
“TCAT students must enroll when the course begins. We have deadlines with TCAT and with the state and they must be completely enrolled before those deadlines to get the money,” Painter continued. “They have to know the student’s name, address, birth date, and social security number. The social security numbers are kept securely but they have to put those in at TSAC which is the state department and that’s where the money comes from to pay for this dual enrollment and then they have to put it in at TCAT because they are enrolling as college students, with the TCAT”.
“We would like for parents to know that TCAT dual enrollment is available to students because it’s a great opportunity especially if students are going into one of those careers that we have here because it helps them further their technical education while here at the high school. We have had a lot of students go to TCAT and be successful. The transition they made from high school to TCAT has worked really well. That experience has helped them work toward a degree or diploma and to get a good job and successful career,” said Leach.
Although the dual enrollment partnership is between DCHS and McMinnville TCAT, Painter said students can use their clock hours at any Tennessee TCAT.
As an introductory to the program, Leach said 8th grade students from DeKalb Middle School and DeKalb West School are made aware of the course offerings through shop visits and orientations.
“We have started some career exploration at the middle school to give the 8th graders a leg up on careers we have here at the high school and to expose them to something they may be interested in. We have an 8th grade night-orientation. We also bring 8th grade students from both schools over here to tour the school and to meet the teachers”.
“Our next 8th grade tour will be January 12th to be followed on January 29th & 30th by 8th grade registration. We will bring them in to talk about CTE (Career Technical Education), show them a video that our audio/video production class has made that highlights all of our programs and we will also talk about dual enrollment. This is for all current eighth graders,” said Painter.
Parents or students who need more information about TCAT dual enrollment may phone 615-597-5905 or email bradleach@dekalbschools.net